Mr Ma and Son (Penguin Modern Classics)

Mr Ma and Son (Penguin Modern Classics)

by Lao She (Author), Lao She (Author), William Dolby (Translator), Julia Lovell (Introduction)

Synopsis

Mr Ma and his son Ma Wei run an antiques shop nestled in a quiet street by St Paul's Cathedral in London, where, far from their native Peking, they struggle to navigate the bustling pavements and myriad social conventions of 1920s English society. From their well-meaning landlady Mrs Weddeburn and her carefree daughter Mary, to the old China hands the Reverend Ely and his formidable wife, the Mas encounter all sorts in this story of unexpected love, crossed wires and antipathy. A major contribution to the early twentieth-century conversation on Sino-British relations, Mr Ma and Son is a compelling, witty tale of cultural give-and-take from one of China's best-loved authors.

$70.96

Quantity

1 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Edition: UK ed.
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Published: 07 Aug 2014

ISBN 10: 014320811X
ISBN 13: 9780143208112

Media Reviews
London as you have never seen it before -- Robert Bickers
Author Bio
Lao She was born in 1899 to a poor Manchu family in Beijing. He left China in his mid-twenties to teach Chinese at the University of London, where he stayed for the next five years. Mr Ma and Son was his third and final novel written during his London years, and was serialized in 1929. Lao She continued to teach and write upon his return to China, and became an established and respected author renowned for his humorist style. He ventured into the realm of satire and science fiction with Cat Country in 1932, also published by Penguin. He committed suicide in Beijing in 1966, a few years after being labelled an anti-Maoist and counter-revolutionary by the Red Guards.